Kingdoms United
by Metal Flowers
Summary: Max is the second born to the King and Queen, Maya being the first. Max's very existence is unknown to those who live outside the castle's walls. Then her Kingdom is invaded, Maya disapears, and she is suddenly being forced to marry the arrogant prince of the invading kingdom: Dylan, when she falls for a black haired knight. What's an invisible princess to do?
1. Conquerer

**I was at the Medieval Fair (the one with the jousting) and this idea for a fanfiction came to mind. Don't worry about Mylan, you Mylan haters. While I love Dylan, he and Max just aren't meant to be.**

**Without Further Adieu,**

It started with a crash, as everything always does. Usually, a crash is the result of me accidently dropping a plate, or one of the Scotties surprising a servant, resulting into even more dropped plates. I thought that it was the latter, as I hadn't dropped a plate, but then the shouting began. Shouts of victory and shrieks of fear.

"Girls, go to your room," Mother's voice was strained as she wiped her face with a napkin. Mother's black, silky hair was done up, as she was the queen, and her dress was pressed so that there wasn't a wrinkle to be seen. She was the picture of elegance. Even her name was haughty, Valencia.

Father, on the other hand, jumped up from the table and gave each of us a kiss on the cheek before hurrying into the foyer, where the crashes had started. I couldn't help but notice that he grabbed his sword before disappearing from view. Was there to be a tournament?

"What's happening?" I asked frantically as Maya jumped up from her seat and took my wrist. Without a word, my older sister dragged me up the three floors of stairs and into her room.

Maya and I looked alike. We both had curly, brown hair and porcelain skin, each untouched by the sun. Father was very protective of us, since we were his only children. So protective that he'd made sure that my very existence was unknown to the land. Hostages and such were nasty business. Maya, of course, had to be recognized. She was next in line to the throne. Those that were privileged enough to see both me and her said that we looked like twins, despite the fact that Maya was three years older than me. She was a startling nineteen to my sixteen, and she was betrothed to our cousin Ari.

Maya begun to pack several of our dresses neatly into a leather bag that she's always kept under her bed, deeming it too 'peasant-like' to use. I saw nothing wrong with it. It was when she packed up her favorite necklace and my book of poetry that my governess had given me that I knew something was wrong. She acted like we weren't coming back.

"Something's really wrong," I covered my mouth as everything clicked. Father taking his sword, the shouts, mother's worried expression, Maya, the bag…The Palace was under attack. And if Maya was packing, that meant we were going to lose.

"Itex," I whispered in realization. Itex had been our enemy for centuries, as long as the Kingdom had been around. They were thieves, all of them. Thieves and murderers.

"It's a possibility," Maya said grimly and opened the window. She peered out at the unusually large maple tree that, when we were much younger, we had used to play on, "Come now, Maximum, you first. Climb down the tree."

"No," I shook my head. I wasn't leaving. I didn't exist outside of the palace walls. If this palace no longer stood, then neither did I. Maya, however, was too important to…die. She was the next Queen, and more importantly, my sister. I pushed her out the open window, bag and all, and she let out a muffled shriek as she fell. Her light pink dress acted as a parachute and she sank to the branches of the maple tree, relatively unharmed. She glared at me, displeased at my obediance, as if that would bend my will.

Without another glance, I closed the window's shutters and straightened my light blue dress. I was going to die, I knew, so I was going to die as Maya. Then she'd be safe. I'd die, but I wasn't going down without a fight. I'd inherited enough of my Father's blood to know how to have an honored death. I grabbed a knife that one of the servants had accidently left and I exited my room. To my surprise, I ran into a rebel Knight upon exiting my room, and the force of the impact knocked me to the ground. So much for going down in a fight. I couldn't even bump into someone without falling.

"Is it possible that you're Princess Maya?" the Knight asked with great interest. I couldn't answer that without sounding false, so my only other option was to act like my sister. I straightened my posture and fixed him with a glare, "What are you doing here in my Kingdom, commoner?"

My Kingdom had always had a condescending relationship with Itex, even before the skirmishes started. Therefore, even the most venerable and noble positions in Itex society were scorned.

"I'm far from a commoner, My Lady," The Knight chuckled softly. I could tell now that the Knight was a boy, maybe about my age. Strange. If he was sixteen, he should be a paige. Itex's standards really _were_ low.

The Knight removed his metal helmet, revealing a handsome, prince like character underneath. The boy had soft, brown hair that had hints of the treat Father sometimes brought for us, Caramel. His eyes seemed like the exotic waters in the pictures of my books, but the only live water I've seen is the sparkling river in the back gardens, so I couldn't be sure. This was the type of boy that I was encouraged to pretty myself up for, but I'd never taken a liking to them.

"Lady Maya," the boy held out his hand as he towered over me, toting his helmet with the other, "My name is Prince Dylan the third, son of Omega Jansen."

I slashed at his hand with my knife and he merely grimaced. Of course. A man of such high status as he does not curse in a lady's presence. Those words are saved for the slums and bars. He simply threw the knife across the room and knelt down. Losing patience with me, he flipped me over onto my stomach and handcuffed my wrists with a pair of wooden manacles.

"Lady Maya, it's not very lady like to maim your guests," Prince Dylan laughed softly and allowed me to stand once I was restrained. I resisted against the manacles to no avail; they would not budge.

"You are no guest of mine," I retorted, trying my hardest to sound like Maya. I had to keep my emotion out of my voice, "What has become of the rest of my Kingdom."

"It has either been ransacked of burned to the ground," Prince Dylan replied with no remorse or guilt, though thousands of memorable lives had been lost. I wonder what has become of Maya. She must have seen the damage. What if she had been caught, though?

"Why did you and your comrades destroy my castle and Kingdom?" I asked, still trying to keep my voice calm. My parents were most likely dead, as was my governess, my favorite servants, the royal families, my uncle, and everyone else I had ever known.

"Lady Maya, I would have thought that you'd be brought up on the situation between our Kingdoms," The Prince's voice was suddenly bitter, the bright sky clouded over by signs of a storm, "My Kingdom is poor and my people starving. Your Kingdom is rich and your people throw away food that is left untouched. Your King and Queen have refused to send any form of aid, and this was our only other option, since the King decided against marriage."

"Marriage?" I squeaked, forgetting to keep my emotions in check. He couldn't be serious. They had been discussing my –it was hard to forget we were talking about my elder sister- marriage? I thought that Maya was to marry Ari!

"Yes," the Prince looked out the window, which was slightly ajar, "Your Father had immediately rejected the proposal of marriage to join our two kingdoms, and your Mother had suggested that I take your younger sister instead. That was a great insult, for how stupid do they think I am? Everyone knows that there is only one heir to the Hachette Kingdom, and that's you. Of course, I now already have conquered your Kingdom, but I'd still like to enjoy my prize. So while my knights are enjoying the spoils downstairs, I've come to collect you. My new fiancé."


	2. A Disturbance

**I wrote this FIVE times, and each time, it was lost…Computer malfunctions. **

**Without Further Adieu,**

"No way in hell," I glared at him. The insolent brat! How dare he ask for my hand in marriage after he had taken away everything that I had ever known?

"You'll change your mind, My Lady," the Prince assisted me in standing, though I fought him with every muscle I had. The manacles securing my wrists severely restricted my attempts to ward him off, however.

"Then you are dim-witted, indeed," I spat at him, disregarding his status. My governess always did say that manners was a lost cause when it came to me. The Prince looked at me in amazement, and I could tell that I had succeeded in ruffling his feathers.

Prince Dylan took a deep breath to calm himself, and repeated his earlier statement, "You'll change your mind. You'll see, Princess."

There was no point in arguing anymore. It was only a waste of strength. The Prince threw several dresses from my closet into a knapsack.

"Not those," I told him bitterly. Those were Maya's. She always wore shades of red or pink, since they complimented her. I leaned more towards the blues. Every dress I owned was a shade of blue, "The dresses that fit me are the blue ones."

"You look prettier in pink and red," the Prince scowled at me, though took out the pink dresses and replaced them with mine. Seven light blue dresses went in, as well as a silver necklace in the shape of a wing, and a pair of white flats.

He ripped a length of fabric from one of the bubblegum pink dresses and tied it around my head, a makeshift blindfold. I gasped in the humiliation. How could I be so powerless? How could I _let_ myself be this powerless?

"Let's go," the Prince said gruffly and put his arm around my waist. I stiffened and flinched away, though that only succeeded in making me trip. He chuckled and we continued walking towards the stairwell.

I felt my shoe slip on something slippery and I hissed in surprise. Prince Dylan's grip tightened around me. I sniffed and gagged in surprise. Blood. There was blood on the floor.

"Who is it?" I asked, my voice quiet with shame, shame that I couldn't stop this. I was the Maximum. I had to be. Maximum was the best. I failed my people.

"It was only a servant," he tried to soothe me. It didn't help. No one but trusted servants and royals were allowed this close to my room. The only servant around here at this time of night would be Anne, my Governess. She and I were close, but now she was dead. A tear slipped down my face and my lip trembled, but I turned my face so that the Prince wouldn't see.

"I will kill you, and then myself," I vowed. Anne had been the only one to actually _know_ me as someone other than Maya's sister, and one of the few to even know of my existence. She was my closest friend, through a forty year old woman.

"If you do, everyone in your Kingdom will die," the Prince said lightly, though the threat was real in his voice, "Itex has been developing various _options_ of depleting the numbers of our enemies. This raid had to be barbaric to be effective, though."

I blinked. This Prince was threatening me? This boneless Prince of the poorest Kingdom I knew. I would have laughed, had the fate of the lives of my citizens not rested in the balance.

"Like…what?" I choked, not really wanting to know the answer.

The Prince laughed darkly, "The basics. A manmade plague, torture, fire's popular, and I don't think that a lady should hear the rest."

Either I could be a coward and disappear from this earth, taking the prince with me to the fiery pits of hell, and have my Kingdom be completely obliterated, or I could be a good girl and go along with the nice man. The decision was easy, though would be hard to carry out.

"I'll go with you," I said, resigned. I never said anything about marrying him because that was never, ever going to happen.

"I knew you'd come around, Princess," I could _feel_ his egocentric smile blooming as he said that. Assured in my defeat, he led me down all one hundred and fifty seven of the stone steps before stopping. Carefully, he led me in twisting patterns to the door, through I knew the stairs stopped directly in front of the enforced double doors. It was only when I slipped on blood that I knew why we had taken such a strange route. The Prince was trying to make sure I didn't guess that there had been a massacre right at the door to my home.

"Is this the reason for the blindfold?" I asked him bitterly. Prince Dylan didn't answer. His silence was all I needed for confirmation.

Finally, we reached the doors and we stepped into the cold, autumn air. I thanked whoever was up there that I had my jacket on.

The fall leaves crunched under my feet and it reminded me of the time I went into the villages. I'd snuck out of the castle, donned on some peasant clothes I'd borrowed from a servant, and played with the commoner children. That one day in fall when I'd freely played outside…that was the one day that I'd actually been…Max. I'd been a real, existing person. Now Fall was ruined for me forever.

Around me were the barbaric shouts of excitement and the nervous clomping. Horses? Itex had horses? I always pictured them walking around barefoot. Of course, they had to be much farther along than I'd been taught. If only they'd all die in a hole.

The Prince slid the blindfold off my face and lifted me onto the horse as a lady should sit, sideways. It is _impossible_ to ride a horse like this.

"Prince?" I asked innocently, making my voice a scared as possible. I wouldn't kill either of us, but I'd give him a nasty bruise. Prince Dylan looked up just long enough for me to swing my legs up and kick him in the face. He hit the floor with a grunt, and the impact knocked me off the other side of the horse.

I landed in a small, teenage boy's arms. The boy caught me with a wince. Looking at his face, I saw that he had spiky, light blond hair and baby blue eyes.

"You weigh a ton," he compliained, then looked at me with wide eyes. He helped me stand nervously as he blushed, "I mean –uh- I apologize. Are you the Princess?"

I nodded. Yes, I was the princess. No, I wasn't the Princess he was talking about, "Thank you for catching me. Who're you?"

"The Gasman," he answered at once, then looked mortified once more, "I mean…Gaz Martinez the first."

"I don't know many people that announce they're the first," I laughed, then realized who I was talking to. This Gaz…he was from Itex. I scowled at him.

"Gazzy is going to escort you to Itex," the Prince murmured, rubbing his jaw. He looked distracted about something, "I have to go…take care of something."

"Is it…?" Gaz trailed off as Dylan shot him a glare I didn't know the Prince was capable of. It appears he isn't as much of a wuss- I mean, a fool- as I'd thought. Maybe he'd make me super happy and get his head chopped off!  
"Just a slight disturbance," the Prince's lips pressed together in what I thought was supposed to be a smile. I'd gladly support anything causing the prince this much annoyance.

"Ah," Gaz nodded and lifted me onto the horse, "I see."

"I'll see you later, cousin," the Prince nodded to Gazzy and ran off. Cousins? The two looked nothing alike. I suppose anything was possible, though.

Gaz straddled the horse himself and looked back at me, "Hey, Princess. I know you probably hate us, but Dylan has his reasons for taking you. It'd be best for you not to die or try to escape, okay?"

"No promises," I snapped, but leaned into Gaz. I wasn't going to fall off this horse. I wasn't going to die. I had to do this for Maya.

It was her turn to not exist.


	3. A Child's Voice

We rode on the horse for so long that I began to grow weary, but had woken myself back up for fear of falling off the horse. The air was cold at night and I, having never been outside at dark before, shivered. The wind whipping around us smelled dead, having carried no smell of either animals or flowers. No, it didn't smell dead, I decided. Dead would imply that it was alive in the first place. The air around us smelled like stone, like shale.

It was only when the sun lit up the area around us that I saw it. The Kingdom of Itex was but a small gray smear on the horizon, but it was there. The kingdom seemed like a dream, or maybe a nightmare.

Something about the Kingdom bothered me, "It seems much more substantial than the reports had led on."

Gazzy gave me an amused glance, "We knew that you had been spying on us. Well, maybe you had been lied to, my lady, because our Kingdom has been growing for a decade with no interference. We've thrived steadily since the war had devastated our kingdom so many years ago."

With that, I grew silent. Our people had lied to us, the very people who had paid them? As we grew nearer to the enemy Kingdom, I began to notice more things. The air had cleared of its barren mood and instead became lively, with the scent of animals and thin strains of music cutting through the early day. Plants climbed the stone wall surrounding the kingdom. Even the sun seemed to shine warmly on the thriving Kingdom.

This wasn't fair. My Kingdom is utterly destroyed, from what I'd seen instead of what the Prince had told me, and the people who had barbarically devastated it had a home to return to, and a good one at that. I wouldn't let any of these barbarians see me cry, so I kept my face empty.

Gazzy rode up to the main gate of the wall and halted his horse. Two guards leaned over the edge to peer at us critically. What would they have seen? Probably just a farmer and a scruffy girl perched on top of a white steed.

To my surprise, Gazzy just had to wave at them and the gate opened. I had momentarily forgotten that the Prince had called the boy his cousin.

Why didn't they just kill me? If you kill all of the royals, the kingdom is reduced to nothing. That's how it works.

"We'll have to pass through the market first. Is there anything you'd like?" Gazzy asked cordially. Really? This simpleton thinks that I'd be hungry after my family has been killed?

"Well, probably not," the boy carried on after a moment's pause. We didn't speak anymore as Gazzy navigated the mount through the crowd, trying not to crush anyone. I was glad that he didn't. I might've laughed.

We steadily made progress towards the castle and I tried to block out the joyous shouts that gathered around us as they saw the mission had been a success. The princess was captured and since a royal had returned unscathed with a smile upon his face, everything must have gone smoothly. Hooray.

We reached the castle grounds and Gazzy dismounted the horse, and held out a hand to assist me. I ignored his offer for help and hopped to the ground myself. The ground was firm beneath my feet, the exact opposite of the muddy terrain our spies had warned us of.

A servant came and took the horse away, and I closely followed Gazzy as he led me into the castle.

"Dylan gave me instructions earlier. You'll be put in the eastern tower. It has a great view, you know. It overlooks the cliffs and oceans. You'll get several servants to assist you through the day," Gazzy informed me. The boy seemed distracted, being in his home. I thought I could hear the sound of music, though I saw no one. It wasn't the sound of an instrument, per say. It seemed…it seemed to be a small child singing. That was preposterous, of course. There was no child in the royal family, not anymore. The last child in the Itex royal family had been Angelika, but she had died in her early years.

"I don't want any servants," I said spitefully. Gazzy sighed before he led me through several twisting passageways and up a long, spiral staircase. I guessed that we were heading to my prison, the eastern tower. I suspected that I'd get the highest room, so if I were to jump out a window, I'd die.

I was correct. Gazzy led me up to the highest level in the tower and pushed me inside the room, locking the door from outside.

"Someone will be up later to help you change," his voice was muffled through the door and I heard him leave.

Finally, I was alone. There was no one to watch me, for now. I slid to the ground, my back braced against the door, and I cried. I cried for my family, I cried for my Kingdom, and I even vainly cried for myself. Everything was over now.

What was over, exactly? I asked myself. What had I had in the first place? What did I have to mourn? A family that denied my very existence, a kingdom who didn't know me, and did I even exist? I existed to not exist.

I wouldn't pity myself. With a ragged breath, I wiped the tears from my eyes and surveyed my prison. It was plain, but not bare. It was a circular space made of stone. There was a wooden bed in the corner of the room with several warm looking blankets on top. There was a bare desk beside the bed at its head, and then a small, low table in the very center of the room that was clearly for eating.

I wanted to escape this, for a little while. Even though I had promised not to hold any pity for myself, I needed to escape. I laid down on the bed and closed my eyes, willing sleep to come.


	4. Arizona

I peered out the window, consumed by boredom. I was in isolation, for the servant Gaz had promised had never arrived. There was no one right now for me to unleash my anger on. I suppose that I could try to yell at the memory of the Prince's face, but that wouldn't be the same.

Movement on the deserted beach distracted me from my thoughts. There was a boy my age. I couldn't get a good description of him from this distance, but he intrigued me. Clad in black, with black hair, and a sword in his hand, he must be something interesting. Was he a knight?

The boy shaped into different fighting positions. He would swing skillfully at invisible enemies, duck, roll, and block. It was as if he could actually envision the assailants he was combating. Once, he actually pretended to have his blade knocked out of his hand, dodging the imaginary blows until he could retrieve his weapon.

A hawk flew over the boy and came in my direction. I stared at it in wonder and for some strange reason, stuck my arm out the window.

The giant bird landed.

"Arizona?" I breathed in wonder. My bird, me pet, had followed me here? Some time ago, when Maya was off doing her royal duties and I had no one to accompany me, I'd slipped out of the castle and into the nearby forest. I was young, so I still believed the fairy tales that Anne had taught me. Every other second, I was looking over my shoulder and looking for the Witch that had eaten Hansel and Gretel. I heard a small cry and there Arizona was, a fledgling that had fallen out of her nest. She was hungry and near death, but I taken her back to the castle and nursed her back to health. Once she'd grown, I'd sometimes donned on a mask, and with my father's approval, had Arizona do tricks at his parties.

I stroked her feathers softly, sad that I didn't have any meat for her. She didn't know how to hunt.

Arizona cried out and flew to the other side of the room. When I located her again, I saw her feasting on a mice. Maybe she _did_ know how to hunt.

After she was done, she landed on my shoulder proudly. An idea forming in my head, I went to the desk and scribbled down a short note.

_I am alive._

_-M_

I tied the message to Arizona's foot and gazed at her intently, "Bring this to Maya."

The bird flew off. I swear, she was the most intelligent hawk on Earth, being able to understand me _and_ tell the difference between my sister and I.

As I watched her fly off, I noticed that the boy was still there. He was staring at me, with what I couldn't tell. I gave him a small wave, which he didn't return. He picked up his sword and stomped off.

CHANGE IN POV: FANG

Duck. Roll. Attack. Block. Retreat. Advance. Attack.

I swung my sword as I pictured the Prince's moves from the night before. That swine had dared challenge me, the fool. The Prince had money, but I had skill. In my black mask that covered all but my eyes, my dark tunic and leggings, I could have been but a shadow in the night. He hadn't stood a chance.

Still, I'd be fighting for his amusement in a week's time. I needed money, and he needed skill for his get togethers. He supplied the gold, and I supplied the entertainment.

There were two sides to me, one the Prince knew and one he didn't. The one he knew was Nicholas Night, the boy who fought other knights –and won- at the Prince's parties. The one he didn't know was The Shadow, the man who fought him whenever he overstepped his boundaries. How dare Itex burn the Hachette Kingdom? They took everything away from me, and now they've taken everything away from the neighboring Kingdom.

A hawk flew overhead and I stopped practicing to watch. Hawks were rare in Itex. We've always had to kill anything that flies. Only recently had the hawks started to come back.

The hawk landed on the arm of a woman residing in the eastern tower. A royal, I spat. Of course. She was probably going to skin the free bird alive. The woman stroked the bird softly and after a few minutes, it left again, this time with a message tied to its leg.

I stared at the window blankly. Did Itex even have any royal women, beside the Queen, residing in the castle? The sleeve the women had was obviously made of fine material, something a servant would only dream of.

The women's face peered out the window at me and I realized that the girl was my age. Pretty, even. Her light brown hair with blond sunstreaks cascaded far past her shoulders, her skin was perfect, and her light blue dress complimented her perfectly.

She obviously wasn't a royal. She looked nothing like them. Maybe she was a servant.

My blood ran cold as I remembered the news I'd heard in the streets. _The Prince had brought home a bride from the Hachette Kingdom._

This beauty is to be married to the Prince?

Infuriating.


	5. Chapter 5

There were three sharp raps on the chamber door, alerting me of a visitor. I whirled around and, even though I had been doing nothing wrong, sat down on my bed, away from the window. I folded my hands in the lap of my muddy blue dress.

The heavy door opened to reveal not a servant, but a man dressed in a royal's clothing. It was no one that I had met before, so I was curious. I had to admit, the man wasn't ugly. He had skin paler than mine, clear eyes blue as the sky, and a reddish blond hair that I'd classify as strawberry blond. I'd never met anyone who looked like him before.

"I'm sorry, but has the servant not come yet?" the strange looking man asked, his voice lilting in an accent that I'd never heard, "You look simply starving, and your dress is in tatters."

"Who are you?" I asked politely. I was alone in a room with a man I didn't know. Father would have been furious and had the man executed on spot.

He looked startled before giving me a grand, theatric bow, "I'm sorry madam, and my name is Ignatius Birchmier. Am I right in assuming that you're the princess of the Hachette Kingdom, Maya?"

Warily, I nodded. This man was interesting, as I'd guessed, but I had no idea what was up his white, poofy sleeves.

"Am I also right in assuming that you're dead bored right now?" he asked. I didn't know how to answer that, so I kept silent and still, "Of course you are! That's why I _accidently _gave all of the servants assigned to you a day off, so I could take you to the market before Old Grumpy Pants gets back!"

This man talked a lot. No one I knew talked so much in my presence, except for Mother and Father. Ignatius was very strange, indeed. Still, he was amusing.

"Are you the jester?" I asked spitefully, "Or the fool?"

I was proud of that comeback, to tell the truth.

"Who's to say that I can't be both?" he flashed me a bright smile before throwing a heap of fabric at me, "Now change, or I'll leave you here."

"I'm not going with you," I lifted my head obstinately, not caring about my consequences. I was a princess. I could talk to anyone in any way that I wanted. I didn't care about what a fool thought?

Ignatius pursed his lips and leaned against the wall, thinking, "You hate me, but you hate Old Grumpy Pants more, no?"

After seeing my blank expression, he clarified, "Dylan. You hate Dylan more than me, right?"

Oh, of course. He should've begun with that. I nodded, which made him smile even louder.

"Good. You know, if you came with me and weren't here when he got back, Dylan would be pissed. Oops, excuse my language," he laughed at the end, "I'm not used to dealing with girls."

"If I go with you, the Prince would be upset?" I checked and was rewarded with a nod, "Okay. Leave me for a few moments, please."

"Yes, my lady," he gave out another loud laugh before exiting the room. When I was sure that the door had shut, I stood up and held out the dress, inspecting it. The dress was light, made for spring, and was a dusty pink. Definitely not for me, but the measurements were somehow right, and since it would make the Prince angry…

I changed into the dress and slipped my feet into the soft, pink shoes accompanying it. In the mirror, I brushed the knots out of my hair and cleaned my face using the cloth and basin of water. Maya would've been furious if I let myself out of a castle and wasn't clean.

Ignatius came back into the room as I was struggling to finish the strings in the back that held the dress together. Without the ties, the dress would look loose and terrible.

"Let me help," he mumbled, his cheeks flaming, before tying my dress. I looked at myself in the mirror before whirling around to face my captor.

"Time to make the Prince mad?" I gave a laugh in his waiting face. The one thing that I could count on to always give me amusement was tormenting those I opposed.

Ignatius hook his arm through mine and led the way as we marched down and through corridors. Once we began to hear noise, Ignatius peeked around the corner.

"Do you know how to fight?" he whispered to me, not expecting a yes.

Pitiful. He didn't expect my father to force me to learn how to protect myself? If I had the element of surprise, I could hold my own for awhile. Itex just hadn't played fairly, attacking in the dead of night, with overwhelming numbers…

"Of course," I whispered back, giving him a deadly glare. No one should ever underestimate me.

Ignatius raised an eyebrow at me, "Then let's go. We're almost at the door. There are two guards at the door."

"You take the one on the right, I'll take the one on the left," I ordered before racing around the corner and attacking the man with the spear. I jumped on his back and put him in a tight chokehold before he sank to the ground, no longer conscious. Ignatius simply hit his target's head so hard that he fell.

"Let's go," he laughed like a madman, taking my hand as we raced across the yard.

Why had I come with this man? Was it really to anger the Prince? If so, I could've just killed myself by jumping out the window.

It wasn't until we reached the busy crowd at the market that we finally slowed down.

"Look around," Ignatius commanded lightly, "I bet that it's better than what you're used to."

Biting back retort, I took in the scenery around me. There were so many colors, everything was just an expanse of different colors. Bright yellows, sinful reds, peaceful blues, fresh greens…everything had so much color. There was a booth of flowers to my right, a booth of beautiful dresses to my left, so many different foods, drinks…

"What is that?" I asked, pointing to a pitcher filled with a dark red liquid.

"You've never had juice?" Ignatius asked in surprise. Hesitantly, I shook my head. I've never drunk anything but water, since poison was easy to hide in colored drinks. Ignatius shook his head in disbelief before giving the booth's attendant a bronze coin and came back towards me, holding a cup. With a smile, he handed the cup to me.

I swirled the liquid around, staring at it in fascination. Me, take a drink? It could be poisoned. It could make me sick. I could die. Father would've never allowed it, so why was I so tempted?

I was no longer the girl kept safe in the boundary of her own home, following the rules...most of the time. There was those times when I sneaked out into the town, but those days were long past. Now, I was in a different Kingdom with different, loose, and dangerous customs.

I hesitantly lifted the cup to my mouth and when the sweet, tangy liquid reached my lips, I knew precisely why I'd traveled out of the castle with Ignatius.

"It tastes wonderful," I smiled at the strawberry haired man as charmingly as I could, channeling the Maya-ness into me, "Thank you."

With that taken care of, I threw the rest of the liquid into his clear blue eyes, momentarily rendering him incapable of movement, and ran as fast as I could into the ever moving crowd.


	6. Chapter 6

I ran through the dirt roads, my flat shoes slipping on the dust with every step I took. I knew that Ignatius would be right behind me any moment, since it would be solely his fault if I escaped. I had to be faster than him.

"This way," a voice whispered, though I couldn't tell if the person was male or female. I turned to see a figure clad in nomadic clothes, with a hood casting the face into shadow. The person grabbed my arm and pulled me into one of the many houses lining the streets.

"Who are you?" I cried, yanking my arm away. This person could easily be a man, and I'd rather face Ignatius than be violated.

"I'm your savior," the person laughed and threw the hood back. The hooded figure was definitely a girl. Her face was heart shaped and her bright blue eyes wide. Soft blonde hair framed her face, looking angelic even if it was cut short. The girl looked to be only thirteen years old.

She seemed to be the female version of Gazzy, but I didn't comment on that, "Who are you?"

"My name is Angel," she informed me, giving me a pleading look, "You must tell no one that you saw me."

"I suppose that I owe you as much," I allowed, looking around the building she had dragged me into. It wasn't so much of a house as much as it was a tavern. Two girls that looked barely older than me (if not younger) moved against each other, in what might be seen as dancing.

"You're Maya, right? " she asked, and when I nodded, she continued, "I could tell by your accent. You talk in a strange way."

That's where Angel was wrong. It was everyone else who spoke differently. Here in Itex, they made all of their vowels harsh and sharp, an acute change from the soft exchanges I grew up around.

"Where is this place?" I asked, refraining from commenting on Itexian speech patterns. Angel looked around quickly, as if having forgotten where we were.

"This is…" she paused, trying to remember the name, "It's the Tavern. I think it has an actual name, but that's just what everyone calls it."

I tried to think of a word to describe this tavern, with the poor lighting and the inappropriate dancing. Grimy? Or was it just a different form of strange? I couldn't decide.

Right now, it was the only safe place from Ignatius, and that was enough for me.

"They'll be searching for you," Angel sighed, leaning against the dusty wall, "They'll find you, of course. You stick out like a sore thumb."

"Then teach me how to blend in," I ordered, since that was obviously the solution. Angel obviously couldn't fathom the difficulty for a royal to act as a commoner.

She tucked her hair behind her ear and rolled her eyes, "It's not something you can be taught. It's all trial and error, really. It's mostly your clothes, though."

I stared down at the pastel dress I was wearing, which was quite a bit different than the commoner clothes around me. They dressed so…skimpily. I would think that even Itexians would have the decency to cover themselves, but they barely had scraps of cloth covering them. Most of the girls here were wearing _pants_!

"Who's this?" a deep, unfamiliar voice asked? I whirled around to see a boy with dirty blond hair and brown eyes. His face had a huge scar running through it, marring what would have otherwise been a very handsome face, but his grin was large and disarming.

"This is…" Angel looked at me cautiously, giving me a look that told me _not_ to use my real name.

"I'm Max Ride," I said, my mouth curving into a smile, "I'm new in this city."

"I can tell," the man said, nodding appraisingly. I blushed as his eyes raked over my body (pausing at my chest), but I didn't falter, "You don't exactly look like a local."

"I travel," I broke eye contact, preferring instead to look at the strange insignia that his shirt bore. It seemed to be the Tavern's logo, "And you are?"

"The name's Ratchet," he introduced himself. Angel poked him, almost demanding to be noticed.

"You know I don't like being ignored," she said huffily, tucking back the strand of hair that keeps falling in her eyes.

"I'm sorry. Hello, Miss Angel," Ratchet laughed, adding in a grand sweep at the end for emphasis. She seemed satisfied with this, "Do you need to use the backroom again to sleep?"

"No, not tonight. I was just showing my friend around, but she has to go back now," Angel sighed, putting her hood back up, "I'll see you in a few days."

"So mysterious," Ratchet laughed, though he seemed a bit sad, "Why are you always disappearing on me?"

"It's a secret," Angel laughed, shaking her head, "Nothing that concerns you."

"C'mon, let me into your mind, mindreader," he teased, grabbing her hand. Angel bit her lip and smiled at the contact, but pulled her hand away. I looked away, embarrassed to be present at this moment. Angel looked to be a few years younger than Ratchet, but they obviously felt something for each other.

This was just light play, though. Were Itexians afraid of commitment?

"I really have to go," she murmered, and strode out of the bar. I quickly followed her, tripping over my dress on the way out.

"Where are we going now?" I asked, looking up at the sky. The sun still hung in the center of the sky, so we couldn't have been there long.

"It was a bad idea to bring you there," Angel sighed, not meeting my eyes, "You're going back to the castle."

"What?" I asked angrily, stopping in the middle of the pathway. We were in a backroad right now, so no one was there to bear witness to my sudden halt, "Why? There is no good reason to go back to that place."

She looked at me in annoyance, "You're so slow. The fact is, the guards would find you in the Tavern and you'd be locked up again. The next time that you run, that's the _first_ place they'll look."

"There doesn't have to be a next time if they don't find me now," I cried out. I didn't want to go back to that room in the top of the tower. I wanted out of the Itex kingdom, "I could just slip out of Itex unnoticed."

"No one gets out except royalty and those with business," Angel snapped, irritated with my lack of knowledge, "I thought you were smart. You even chose a decent name for yourself. I thought that you'd at least know the simple things."

"I won't be able to get out again if I go back now," I wailed, latching onto Angel's arm like there was no tomorrow. Without her guidance, I'd be caught immediately, but apparently she wanted that to happen.

"I'll send someone in a few days, alright? Just go back now, no trouble," Angel ordered and shook me off. She took off down a corner, leaving dust in her wake.

Did she see something? I glanced behind me, but there was no one. Taking her lead once again, I ran after her. I sprinted down the path I thought she had gone and bumped into a very tall someone.

A someone with strawberry blond hair.


End file.
